Oh, the sweetness of revenge.
Magnolia head coach Chito Victolero admitted that last year’s stinging PBA Philippine Cup Finals loss served as a motivation for his wards on the way to downing TNT in their 2022 Governors’ Cup meeting on Friday night.
The Hotshots, looking back, were touted as one of the favorites to rule the ever-prestigious conference with the addition of eventual BPC Calvin Abueva, only to get outclassed by the Tropang Giga in five games for the crown.
It took them months to get the opportunity to get back on their corporate rivals, but the wait was totally worth it. They dealt the MVP Group’s crown jewel a 96-93 defeat to stretch their unbeaten streak to four in the conference.
“Of course, it’s one of our motivations — ‘yung they beat us in the Finals,” the former Coach of the Year said moments after the match at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
“I told them to use it as one of our motivations.“
The result was indeed gratifying for the rest of the squad. But what made Victolero even more elated with the triumph was how his Hotshots stuck to the plan that led to the triumph, which pushed them atop the standings again.
Well, Magnolia started out hot. It opened the game with a blistering 21-4 start before weathering the Tropa’s second half surge, which saw them lead by a point briefly until Mike Harris took the lead back for good.
Harris himself was at the forefront of the assault as he turned in 41 points in nearly 43 minutes in a monster performance that saw him shoot 61-percent from the field and collect 18 rebounds and a pair of assists.
Photo by PBA Images
Having a hand in the victory as well were usual suspects Paul Lee and Mark Barroca. The former had 15 points, while the latter submitted numbers across the board once more with 14 markers, six boards, and seven dimes.
Lee, Barroca, and Ian Sangalang sank crucial freebies inside the final moments to keep TNT at bay after closing in by just a solitary point, 90-91, with less than 50 seconds left to play behind big triples by Kib Montalbo.
Photo by PBA Images
“Kinuha namin ‘yung game na ‘to possession by possession,” Victolero said. “I told them at the start of the game that we cannot expect yung resulta agad, but we need to prepare possession by possession.
“So, good thing, the players stepped up, they committed on every single possession, on our execution, on our defense, and I’m very happy and proud of these guys.”
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